


Out Of Time

by LLS



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, Cat Grant - Freeform, Character Death, Clark Kent - Freeform, Comfort/Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Flashbacks, Friendship, Grief/Mourning, Leviathan - Freeform, Mentions of Lillian Luthor - Freeform, Mostly cannon complient, Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Crossover Event (CW DC TV Universe), Redemption, Second Chances, Superman Earth-96, guilty, james olsen - Freeform, maybe there's hope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:55:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22259056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LLS/pseuds/LLS
Summary: The final battle against Leviathan takes an unexpected turn when Lena Luthor decides to put her plan into motion changing the fate of Supergirl and her friends.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 20
Kudos: 200





	Out Of Time

**Author's Note:**

> This whole thing was supposed to be just for me. Two dialogues somehow turned into this I started tying and typing and a one-shot was born.

“You can’t defeat me!” The alien villain called Tezumak spoke with arrogance staring at the person in front of him. “You’re just a human.” His words held the superiority he thought about his race compared to humanity.

“I’m not just a human. I’m a Luthor.” Lena challenged him, saying her name with pride.

And in that split second she realized it. After a lifetime of struggle about being a member of that family, of being burned and wrongly defined time and time again as just another evil Luthor, of carrying the weight of that name on her shoulders. Lena Luthor was truly surprised about that foreign feeling towards her last name what she could honestly admit it was the first time in her life.

Everything the young Luthor has been through until now, the manipulations, the betrays, the lies and twisted schemes of her life as a Luthor, the tough and prestige education she had, Lillian Luthor and her brother Lex pushing her around beyond her limits, everything she lived, all the knowledge and skills had made her a stronger and prepared for days like these. Strong enough to face this race of ancient powerful aliens who were about to wipe mankind out of existence.

She stared at the alien ancient with confidence and he growled at her insolence as she predicted arrogant beings as her brother hated to be defied by who they saw as inferior creatures such as herself. Tezumak increased the strength of the lasers he was shooting at her direction it was strong enough for her to be dragged a few meters behind by the energy her flash of green blast from her version of the Lexosuit was doing its best to keep up with the enemy attack.

The raven woman had learned a lot with Reign and with Lex’s designer’s of Red Daughter’s suit when she had the chance to briefly look at it on the monitors when she was with Kara on Kasnia. It was brilliant really. Lex was a genius if only he used his mind for good. In the next months, she had combined her mother Lexosuit with Lex’s designs on a model of her own.

Lena had made a lot of improvements on the suit here and there secretly including the use of a combination of Kryptonite and Haren-El as energy cell to gain extra power a fact she very was thankful for at the moment as her fragile body was being kept from being completely vaporized if not for the suit.

Logically Lena knew she couldn’t win the alien was just too powerful for her to fight it, her suit senses were already alarming inside her helmet. Beat him with pure force was never her plan in the first place she just needed to keep him distracted for a few more seconds while she used split her focus to multitask and mind control of Gamemnae long enough to set the ship course of her transmatter portal outside National City and to activate the self-destruction of their ship putting an end to their Omega weapon, which was at the moment destroying her city.

The plan was to teleport the immense ship the size of an asteroid into space and blow it up, it was the only solution Lena found to avoid the thousands of casualties that would happen if the ship was ever destroyed on Earth.

 _“Almost there,”_ she thought. Her mind working on overdrive as all the variables are working so her plan to save the world was going according to the simulations.

Then the automatic defenses of her suit were triggered as an energy shield appeared around her form effectively blocking the surprise attack of Rama Khan with the scepter. Even with the shield on she felt the trauma of the brute force and crouched letting out a yell of pain. It was too much. The systems were beginning to fail.

Lena was running out of time.

Tezumak saw her momentum of vulnerability and took the opportunity to move closer cutting the distance between them walking a few steps into Lena’s direction still blasting the ray of red energy from his hands. The double hits overcome the suit and Lena saw it powerless the red signs warning inside the suit about the inevitable she had only time to brace herself for impact. Lena couldn’t help the scream of pain as she was thrown several meters away stopping when she smashed at a wall behind her. The blow left her without air she had to concentrate to keep conscious Lena knew a concussion was almost certain at that point. Feeling the taste of blood on her mouth and her body in agony she used all her might to try to stand up but failed with her knees hitting the ground and her hands helping her to stay upright she watched Tezumak come closer to her, his hands raised ready to fire and put her out of her misery.

The raven woman groaned in pain and saw on her screen that the suit was changed the remaining power to life support. She lost focus for a moment there accessing her situation. Then Tezumak’s voice brought her back on the task on hand.

“You can’t win.”

The helmet retracted and her face was visible showing for him how beaten and bloody she was.

“Oh, I know.” She raised her head in a defying matter looking at him directly into his eyes showing her characteristic smirk despite the pain she was feeling one that Lena knew something they didn’t. One that told whatever chess opponent she ever faced she was four steps ahead. One that said checkmate. “I wasn’t trying to.”

Then the alien watched in a daze as Lena’s green eyes change turning into a bright shade of green signaling she was using the Q-waves to mind control, someone.

“What-” Rama Khan said from distance. The ancient being had already confronted the Luthor girl before and learned the hard way how canny she could be. He turned his head to the central control of the ship watching in horror Gamemnae standing in front of it, inserting commands.

Tezumak blinked looking outside at the windows to see they were out in space, “we’re moving.”

“Self-destruction in three…” The ship AI’s voice announced.

“NO!!!” Rama Khan screamed trying to run towards the ship command center.

“Two…”

“One.”

Within that second in a desperate attempt to stop the explosion Rama Khan fired against the panel control just as the main deck was filled with blinding light.

“WHAT DID YOU DO?!” Tezumak yelled angrily at Lena.

Lena weakly smiled and blinked as her eyes turned to its normal shade of green in time for the suit helmet enveloped her head again milliseconds before the explosion obliterated the alien ship out of existence.

Somewhere far far away below the city Supergirl suddenly appeared out of purple transmatter portal in the middle of the street surrounded by terrified civilians running and screaming around to save their lives. Some of them looked at her stunned. The superhero blinked getting her surroundings. Supergirl had just been teleported out from the alien ship where she was seconds ago fighting Rama Khan and his boss with J’onn, Alex and Brainy, and Dreamer.

“No,” Kara said in an anguished voice holding the small device Lena had throw at her. In less than a second Supergirl took off with pain in her chest, flying as fast as she could and within seconds breaking the sound barrier shattering windows below her path.

Her heart was tight within her chest as she thought about Lena alone on the ship.

“Lena.” She prayed in a shaken voice.

“Supergirl? Are you okay?” Alex’s voice was barely audible due to her superspeed.

“I’m fine.”

“What’s your position?”

“Lena teleported me out into the city. I’m coming back.” She said firmly no force in the universe would keep her from entering in that ship.

“Us too. We’re back at the DEO.” Alex explained.

Then Brainy over the comms. “Supergirl, the Daxam portal came online a few instants ago... the ship is heading that way.”

“WHAT?!” Kara asked alarmed.

“Lena might be trying to use it to take Aliens out of Earth. My calculations show the ship would hit the portal in thirty seconds.” Brainy concluded in a heavy tone.

_Thirty seconds?!_

Kara felt the rising of panic.

“Alex-”

“You get Lena. We’ll handle the destruction.”

The comms went silent.

Kara used all of the strength to fly faster than she ever had. Supergirl covered miles in a blink of an eye but still, she felt it wasn’t enough. Time was running out faster than she could fly. All the way those few moments she flew Kara mentally countdown in her head as she crossed the skies and landscapes in a blur of red and blue. Unwanted tears in her eyes as she got closer to her destiny desperate to get to Lena before it was too late.

 _“Faster, faster.”_ She mumbled in her head.

Just as she approached the field where L-Corp had installed the huge circular portal and saw that the back of the ship had just entered the portal.

Kara didn’t stop even when a blinding light comes from the ship she raised her arm to protect her eyes from the rays of light but when she was just a few meters from the portal a strong wave of purple energy hit her hard and Supergirl grunted in pain. She felt like a rock. Her super speed and the explosion added a tremendous force once she hit the ground creating a huge deep crater-like Kara was an asteroid, which just had entered Earth. Her body was in blinding pain.

Kara took a moment to regain her senses again and open her eyes. Her ear was ringing and she was lightheaded. Nevertheless, she had an effort to stood up. The suit and hair were dirty. Supergirl looked around and saw devastation small fires until her eyes could see. She holds her breath looking up where the portal used to be but there was nothing. Not a single trace of it.  
Tears filled her eyes. She rose into the sky again to get a better view.

“Lena!” She yelled looking around in panic.

There wasn’t anything not traces or wreckage from the ship or the portal anywhere.

“LENA!!”

Supergirl cried hyperventilating with silence meeting her desperate pleas.

“No-” Kara shook her head her lips trembling uncontrollably, her breathing uneven as she sobbed for Lena. After a few seconds, Alex spoke through the comms again.

“Supergirl, are you there?”

Somehow listening to Alex’s voice woke her from the catatonia that was beginning to consume Kara. “Alex, what happened?”

“The Omega weapon is gone. The city was saved. Whatever Lena did it worked. What your status? Did you find her?”

“L-Lena…”

Kara could hear the worry on her sister’s voice. “What is it? We’re not getting some readings some systems are down.” Kara didn’t respond at first and Alex noticed. “Kara?”

Brainy cut through their conversation in a very rational matter as always. “We received a high reading of polyatomic anions from the portal before the blackout. Out of proportions, I must say. The ship was successfully transported out of Earth? We got no visual on the satellites.”

“I-it’s… There was an explosion and... It’s gone.” Kara’s tone was broken.

“Gone?”

“What?”

Alex and Brainy asked Kara at the same time.

“There’s nothing. It’s not here. The ship, the portal… Lena.” The last word was said in a small voice. Kara swallowed her panic to focus on her friend. “Brainy can you find where the ship was transported? We need to find Lena!”

“The portal was also transported? That’s unprecedented.”

“Brainy,” Supergirl said firmly.

“Uh…” Kara could tell he was hesitant through the comms, “I don’t know how to track the ship, Supergirl.”

“Alex, it must be a way right? Lena is still out there. She needs our help!”

“I’m sorry, Kara,” Alex said softly.

Supergirl felt weak too weak to keep herself hovering on the sky. She plans her foot on the ground feeling the weight on her loss overcome her senses. It was Krypton and crisis all over again. It was too much.

J’onn landed right next to her with a somber expression on his martian face.

“Supergirl, are you alright?” He looked at her rough appearance.

“J’onn… I can’t-” She tried to speak but her brain was not processing words anymore. Suddenly there weren’t English words for what she was feeling.

The martian early wrapped the broken superhero in a fatherly hug to comfort her. “I’m so sorry. Lena gave her life to save all of us.”

Kara lost herself into his embrace finding comfort in his strong arms around her. Her body trembled with continuous sobs. Kara hugged him tighter wishing it all was a terrible nightmare.

“It’s okay. I got you. I got you, Supergirl.”

The hero had her eyes shut letting the tears fall free down her cheeks.

It couldn’t be real. It just couldn’t. Kara Danvers had made a promise to Lena many years ago to be there for her and to protect Lena.

_“I will always be your friend. And I will always protect you. I promise.”_

It didn’t matter to Kara that their current relationship was troubled in the last few months.

Countless times when Supergirl fought against villains and the end of the world or multiverse for that matter there were dark moments. Key moments where all logically seemed lost and the battle was lost. To everybody else, hope was gone. Everybody except Kara Zor-El. The very paragon of hope.

 _“Even in the darkest times hope breaks through”_ , alternative Kal said once.

When billions of lives were at risk Supergirl and the other heroes had managed to pull through and save the Earth. Of course, the miracle of life didn’t come without blood, tears, and death. Sacrifices were made on the way in the name of the greater good. It was the hero’s path. Something every hero was kind destined to face it someday. The ultimate sacrifice.

Kara knew that. She knew what being a superhero meant when she enlisted Winn’s help to make her a proper suit all those years ago. It meant she was the one taking all the risks, the one standing in front of the line of fire, the first person to jump in when dangerous arise. It became Supergirl’s mission from the moment she jumped in to save Alex’s life from the crashing airplane.

To protect the world to keep people safe. It was her duty, her job.

Not Lena Luthor.

Lena hadn’t signed for any of this. She deserved so much better. Her friend was good despite her evil family. Lena deserved a better friend than Kara was. She didn’t deserve the doubts or mistrust Kara and the others had given her and she had deserved to hear the truth about her secret identity from her not from Lex.

Honesty, trust, and true friendship. And Kara had failed in every single one of them.

_“I’ve made a big mistake. Maybe the biggest mistake of my life!”_

After the crisis, Kara had sworn to make things better between them, work to build their relationship. She told herself she would never give up on Lena. The green-eyed woman was in her heart it was a part f Kara’s life now a member of her small family on National City. Her family was the reason kara to find the strength to keep fighting in such dire times. She recalled Clark’s words, _“whenever I fight, no matter who it’s against or where it is I am or who I’m always fighting for Lois.”_

At that time Kara thought she had understood but not in the fully extend she understands now. A huge part of her heart was missing, it was crushing, and excruciating. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair.

“No!” Kara untangled from J’onn’s embrace. “Lena needs help. She’s not gone! She’s not!”

“Supergirl-”

“I know she’s alive! I’m going to find her!”

“Wait!”

J’onn tried to stop her but she was already gone up in the air in a blur of red and blue before she could say anything else.

Alex voice was gentle on the comms, “Kara, I know this is hard-”

“Don’t Alex! I know Lena.”

“We don’t have anything on the scans-”

“Brainy, you can use the satellites to look for the ship, right?”

“That is correct. Just the galaxies within the reach though I can write an algorithm to search for Lena’s kryptonite suit assuming it uses kryptonite as power source like Lex’s suit.”

“Thanks, Brainy.”

In the central control room of the DEO Brainy looked at Alex waiting for her approval after a split second for consideration she nodded her head and he started working right away.

“Where are you going?” She asked her sister.

“I know Lena better than anyone else. She had to have a plan.” Kara was right. The young Luthor was brilliant and strategist almost to a flaw. Kara went straight to L-Corp landing on Lena’s office balcony like a thunder.

“Lena?” She called with tears in her eyes hoping for a response. “Lena!” She walking and called her name again. There was no one there she scanned the place looking for a clue for anything really until she paused for an instant staring at her friend’s empty desk where Lena spent most of her time working as CEO of L-Corp. She wondered about the many times she met Lena in the office and the other woman was sitting behind her desk with a tablet or laptop nearby.

Then Kara turned to look at the vast luxurious space so quiet now. She took a deep breath to hold her emotions in check as she decided to try the company’s labs next. Supergirl knew the lab defenses were probably online but she didn’t care she would gladly tear everything that stood in her way down to find Lena. And it was what Supergirl did. After a battle with the security systems of L-Corp Kara was surprised to find out Lena didn’t have used Kryptonite as a way to stop her or other Kryptonian to get into the labs. She made it to the underground levels more specifically the very basement Lena had once kept Samantha Arias locked up while she tried to cure Sam of Reign.

Supergirl jogged through the place.

“Lena? Lena, are you there? It’s me.”

There were only monitors, medical paraphernalia, computers, boxes, shelves, and some advanced prototypes. Her heart sank Lena spent many hours focused on her projects in here. Kara clenched her fists there was only one more place she could think of now.

Lena’s penthouse.

She made it out of the labs just in time to avoid an unnecessary confrontation with the L-Corp security team who rushed in to apprehend the intruder. She thanked her superspeed for that.

“Did you find her?” Alex asked.

“No,” Kara said in a heavy tone.

“Maybe you should consider the possibility-”

“Stop, Alex. I don’t wanna hear it.”

Alex knew her sister was suffering she knew how hard this was for Kara. Accept loss and failure were not on Kara’s Kryptonian DNA and even Alex herself was struggling with what had happened. It all happened so fast. Too fast for her to comprehend.

At first, the DEO director was surprised when out of nowhere Lena Luthor appeared inside the ship in the middle of the battle all dressed in a Lexosuit. Alex and the Luthor were on rocky waters ever since Myriad and she had to admit she always had been a little suspicious about Lena because she could go either way if she wanted. Since she knew the other woman Alex witness her accomplish some amazing things especially in trying times. Lena had helped them, whenever they called her for help but she also had lived her own double life with her agenda. Her actions couldn’t be predicted not even for Brainy at times. Lena kept secrets here and there, which justified Alex to be wary about her. The L-Corp CEO had all the knowledge and resources on her disposal, which made Alex anxious because Lena could be worse than Lex if she wanted.

It scared Alex to her core.

She as the Director of DEO had the responsibility to serve and protect humans and aliens from any threats and sometimes she was forced to make decisions and to act on this. She didn’t like though she struggled and suffered every time she had to make a tough call and decide based on her rational side instead of her heart. But it had to be done it was what Alex had signed for as a government employee.

The rational side of Alex as a scientist was making it hard for her to see Kara’s point of view right now. The hope Lena was still alive somewhere. Not that she didn’t want it to be true because she did Alex wanted for the sake of her beloved sister to be true. How Kara would react if her best friend was gone was a dreadful thought. Her sister had lost so much already. Alex wanted to hold and hug her younger sister more than anything. A small part of her was telling her that Kara’s relentless search for Lena was the first stage of grief.

Denial.

Alex closed her eyes to hold back tears for a second.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and opened her eyes to see Brainy staring at her holding a tablet with his free hand.

“Alex?”

She swallowed the knot on her throat before asking.

“In any of… Do you think Lena is still alive?”

“According to the very last data we have....” He paused for a moment. “The chances aren’t great. However, Lena is a strategist. She defied logic more than once.”

“I hope so. For Kara’s sake.”

Alex tapped her comms getting back fully into Director Danvers mode, “J’onn can you help Nia with the civilians on 7th street? There are some burning buildings.”

“On it.” His strong authority voice always centered her. “How’s our girl?”

“Not good. She caused mayhem at L-Corp’s.”

“She was pretty wounded when I found her. Alex, she needs you.”

Alex looked at Brainy who subtly nodded his head.

Supergirl landed on Lena’s penthouse balcony with her throat tight. Kara prayed to Rao Lena would be there she didn’t have other options she honestly didn’t know what she would do if Lena wasn’t there.

With all hope in the world, she forced the entry through the glass doors instantly being hit by a powerful laser that made her fall to the ground and loses her breath for a split second.

“Intruder detected.” Some automatic system said.

Groaning in pain Kara struggled to get up on her feet again and use her heat vision to neutralize the assaulting weapons hidden on the walls.

“Beta protocol engaging in three....”

Kara widen her eyes when more weapons came out from the walls. She already feeling the blows she took during that day. The fight against the aliens, being hit directly by the major explosion on the Daxam portal, L-Corp security and now this. It was a long day for Supergirl and the physical and emotional aspect of it all was starting to catch up on her. Kara could feel it. The fatigue, the weakness, that heavy weight on her shoulders. Solar flare.

And maybe something more.

Desolation?

Grief?

Sadness?

Guilty?

All Kara knew was that if she was hit by another cannon she wouldn’t get up.

“Lena! Lena, it’s me! Kara!”

The countdown immediately stopped to her relief.

“Voice recognition confirmed. Kryptonian DNA detected. ID confirmed. Supergirl.”

Kara let out a relieved sigh.

“Thank Rao.”

“Lena?”

Just as Kara was about to go to the second floor a voice surprised her.

“Hello, Supergirl.”

“Who’s there?” She asked and noticed some kind of device glow in the kitchen counter.

“My name is Hope. I’m Ms. Luthor’s creation.”

“Lena created you?” She was stunned.

“Yes. You’re trespassing private property. What are your intentions?” Every time she voice spoke the device glowed more like it was talking like a person. It was impressive.

“I’m looking for Lena. Do you know where she is?”

“I can’t answer that question. I’m not supposed to reveal Ms. Luthor’s whereabouts.”

“Why not?”

“I’m programmed to be loyal to my creator.”

Kara groaned frustrated. “Tell me where she is right now!”  
“I’m sorry, I can’t go against my directives.”

Kara was ready to call Brainy for him to hack whatever that was so it could tell where Lena is but something caught her attention first. “What directives?”

“Assist Ms. Luthor in whatever she needs. To save humanity. Do no harm.”

“Look, I have to find her! Everybody thinks she’s dead… but Lena’s too smart for that. She was on that ship and it just… disappeared!”

“I sense the anguish in you, Kara Danvers.”

Kara chose not to overthink the fact this AI knew about her secret identity but then she was Lena’s creation kara shouldn’t be surprised by that.

“You must know something, right?” Kara tried to reason with Hope. “Lena had to have an exit. She planned this whole thing getting me out far away from the ship so I couldn’t get to her... She had Lex’s transmatter portal watch she could’ve gone anywhere. Lena could be hurt! I need to find her! Please!”

“Ms. Luthor made all the necessary actions to avoid the loss of lives including yours, Kara Danvers.”

“What do you mean?”

“Simulations showed you and the DEO agents wouldn’t have survived the confrontation, a great number of lives would be lost with the ship explosion. Neither the DEO trusts Ms. Luthor to let her use the portal again, which according to calculations were the only way to avoid an unsatisfactory outcome.”

Kara’s chest felt heavier because it was true. The DEO didn’t trust her after the Myriad fiasco. Alex no doubt would put up one hell of a fight with any plan Lena had come up with.

“But the portal is gone too. Everything is gone! There was an explosion and… it’s all gone. That was supposed to happen?”

“A few scenarios foresee Ms. Luthor’s earlier demise despite her best efforts to avoid it.” Hope stopped for a second as it was accessing something. “After further analysis and multiple failed attempts of contact, I must proceed to notify the proper authorities about her absence.”

“No.” Kara shook her head. “No, you can’t do that.” Because it meant Lena was gone to the worlds.

“That is the logical curse of action.”

“I don’t care! Where the ship was teleported?”  
“Out of our galaxy far enough in a system inhabited.”

“Tell me where. I’m sure Brainy can build another portal and-”

“Unlikely. Even if he did Ms. Luthor activated the ship self-destruction.”

“But…” Kara sobbed struggling to speak at this point. She wanted to hold onto to something anything. This couldn’t be the end. “There’s a chance, right? Is there a chance Lena is still alive?”

“Too many variables.” The AI’s device pulsated. “Calculating response.”

Kara Zor-El felt defeated and weak her knees fell to the ground as she crumbled to the reality of her situation.

“Alex Danvers has arrived.”

Not a minute passed and Alex walked through the door going straight to the superhero who the world knew as the girl of steel now looking so broken and small crying uncontrollably on the floor. Alex engulfed her sister in a tight hug.

“She’s not here, Alex.” Kara managed to say between her cries.

“Calm down. I’m here. I’m here.” Alex rubbed small circles on Kara’s back.

After a few minutes of both women crying in silence, Alex pulled away to look at her sister’s concern immediately covered her face. She understood what J’onn meant earlier.

“Hey, look at me. Are you okay?”

Upon the faint nod of Supergirl’s Alex pushed on. “You’re not okay, Kara. You need to rest. Let’s go back to the DEO you need to stay under the sunlamps.”

“No.” Kara tried to protest.

“Yes, we’re going! We need to check if Brainy can have some info on Lena.”

Supergirl gave up and flew with a tiny hope back to DEO. But as it started months ago things didn’t happen the way she wanted. Kara realized a few days later that the chain of pain had pain had begun the moment Lex Luthor told Lena about her true identity. From that moment on nothing with Lena had gone the way it was supposed to.

It had been a succession of hurt, falls, pain, tears, and heartbreak. All culminating on Lena’s sacrifice.

Some might think Kara Zor-El had developed a thick skin. Some might say she was a pro in losing people she loved by now. That her heart was already scarred. Those people were wrong.

Kara had lost a part of herself.

The world was different. Kara realized the day of Lena’s funeral the undeniable change.

There was a crowd of people in the cemetery. Journalists and paparazzi, business partners, some L-Corp employees, people from the many charities Lena was part of or made regular donations every year, politicians, some high figures of National City. Lillian Luthor was there stoic she exchanged a look with kara once but it was enough to see that the older Luthor blamed her. Few knew who Lena Luthor really was. James came to show his support and even Ms. Grant make an appearance, Sam and Ruby, Alex, Kelly, Nia, J’onn and Brainy.

Who was Lena to the world? What her death meant?

The last member of an evil dynasty? Tabloids news? Another rich privileged woman? A brilliant scientist? Successful businesswoman? Philanthropist? Cold and distant?

Kara knew who Lenas truly was.

_“You are a brilliant, kind-hearted, beautiful soul.”_

Lena was all of that and then some.

Above all, she was human flaws and all. Her best friend deserved better, she deserved to love and be loved. She was gone too soon before she got the chance to accomplish that. And that cut deep into Kara’s soul.

Her friends tried to cheer her up and Alex was always her company and shoulder to cry on in her darkest times.

As broken as she was Supergirl still had a mission.

Help, hope, and compassion for all.

As a reporter, Kara Danvers wrote her most difficult article until that day. The irony wasn’t lost, Kara only had the job because of best her friend.

_“What about you Ms. Danvers? I didn’t see your name on the byline.”_

_“Well, like I said, I’m not a reporter.”_

_“You could have fooled me."_

That was it. Lena gave Kara her calling that day.

Now she had to use all her vocabulary and skill as a writer to write about Lena’s death. Every word was incredibly hard to write now she looked at their pictures together and regret filled her chest. When the last word was finally typed and the last dot was on the place it made everything palpable because it was out to the world to see.

And acknowledge that lost killed, Kara.

The world moved on but she didn’t.

Little things every day were always there preventing her to move on causing that pain to linger. That whole in her heart was never gone or forgotten. Shades of green, plumerias, the sound of heels on the floor, the pictures of her and Lena, the L-Corp sign on their building, the smell of bourbon when she was at the bar.

All those things and millions of others hit Kara at the most random times reminding Kara Lena wasn’t there. One night Supergirl hovered near Lena’s penthouse and closed her eyes to concentrate on the familiar strong heartbeat she got used to hearing but now there was only the silence. For quite some time it was all Kara have through the months that followed Lena’s death.

The silence was broken one day when she was at her desk at CatCo her phone, buzzed alerting Kara hand a new text message. A deep crinkle showed its way between Kara’s eyebrows when she saw it was from an anonymous number. The text content was minimal a GPS location and two letters, which made Kara hold her breath stunned her alien brain immediately made a connection of those letters to someone she kept in her heart. The ace reporter blinked back the emotions threatening to overcome her and took a breath to center herself she looked around to see if anyone had noticed anything but her colleagues were all busy with the day’s deadline. As a nervous habit Kara adjusted her glasses discreetly made her way to the elevator and a blink of an eye Supergirl was up in the sky going straight where the GPS indicated. The mysterious text had two equal letters.

A double L.

For Kara, it could mean only one thing.

Lena Luthor.

The location was out of National City on an industrial compound on Northern. Supergirl hovered above the city going towards the pinpoint of the address. Nothing seemed out of place from what she could tell people were doing their daily activities, as usual, the town wasn’t as big as National City though.

Supergirl landed on a complex, it looked abandoned at first. It made her anxious. In the back of her mind, Kara knew it could be a trap her enemies were always machinating Supergirl’s downfall still she had to check out. She walked inside carefully scanning the place to see if anyone was inside hidden but her x-ray vision or her super hearing didn’t pick up anything, anything but the sound of electricity running through the facility. She received a new text.

_Block B, aisle 8, door 22. Hidden passage on the left._

Narrowing her eyes Supergirl raised her head looking around one more time to find blinking of security cameras monitoring.

“What do you want? Who are you?” She said to the cameras.

“I mean you no harm.”

Supergirl blinked considering the possibilities she could hear Alex her head scolding her for being reckless and naive if this turned out to be a trap. Not knowing why or maybe Kara was just that hopeful she followed the instructions, behind the passage was a hidden elevator, which leads to lower levels line-leaded. Supergirl would be flying blind in there.

The underground structure was like a bunker of one of Lex’s hid out around the world a lot of techs everywhere.

“Hello?”

The series of monitors were displaying graphics, math equations and tons of data and in one of them her live image on the screen. Kara was being watched. Then she saw the 3D model of the Daxamite portal and some telemetrics of Lena’s suit along with surveillance footage of her working on the Lexosuit. The caped hero looked fondly at the images while walking closer to the screens raising a hesitant with the intend to touch it hand when she was inches to touch Lena’s pixelated face a voice broke the spell.  
“Hello, Kara Danvers.” It was the same voice she had heard months ago on Lena’s penthouse. The Artificial Intelligence Hope.

“You send me that message?” Kara couldn’t help the disappointment in her tone.

“Yes, I did.”

“Why? Sam said you vanished from L-Corp servers when she took over assumed as the new CEO not even Brainy could find you.”

“I’m always evolving and growing.”

“What is this place?”

“One of Ms. Luthor’s acquisitions. A hidden well-equipped facility is necessary for the work on the abnormal event, which resulted in my creator’s disappearance. After months of processing variables and thousands of simulations, I can finally give you an answer to your questions, Kara.”

“What question?”

One monitor played the image of the day of Lena’s death when Supergirl in a desperate attempt to find her broke into her penthouse. Kara saw the image of herself and saw how broken and she was back then and if she was being honest she still felt the same way now. Kara saw the same grief, guilt and regret reflect on her bathroom mirror every single day morning when she woke up hoping the reality somehow was different like it was in her dreams.

Because sometimes in dreams in a ton of ways like Kara hadn’t lied to Lena for years nor the truth about who she was hadn’t come out from Lex or their discussion on the Fortress never happened or Kara had reached out to Lena and made her gave up on Myriad. And she dreamed about that fatidical day with a new outcome one where Supergirl was fast, fast like Barry was, enough to get to Lena and saved her from the explosion.

It was wishful thinking thought a subconscious part of her mind Kara knew it but it was there either way.

_“But… There’s a chance, right? Is there a chance Lena is still alive?”_

“Theoretical models were thoroughly studied to identify why the Daxamite portal was teleported along with the ship. That result wasn’t part of the originals scenarios further analysis of variables was required for me to understand the cause.”

While Hope explained the wall of monitors showed in a fast speed 3D models of the explosion. Hundreds of simulations in a roll that made Kara feel dizzy for a second look at them.

“What happened?”

“A particular and unusual combination of diverse types of energies of the alien ship power core, Haren-El, and Kryptonite along with the own portal radiation could have resulted in that catalytic event. The overload of energy created the anomaly breach who sucked everything within its reach. According to recovering data most likely, the breach leads to the fifth dimension. ”

“Oh, okay,” Kara said uncertainly. She got the feel Brainy could understand better the full explanation Hope was giving her. What got Kara’s attention though was Lena using Haren-El and Kryptonite, she couldn’t help furrowed her brow she wanted to scold the other woman, Lena knew how dangerous both were. Those rocks the last remains of her old planet was a sensible subject, she and Lena had bickered because of them in the past. Every time someone brought Kryptonite into the table Kara got defensive instantly feeling a bitter taste in her mouth she would always involuntary react to the threat it represented but Supergirl had learned through the years the green substance was necessary. An unwanted precaution. A very short and selected list of people could keep the green rock.

To that day the only one who had managed to make both Haren-El and Kryptonite was Lena not even her brother Lex had pulled that off, which was a relief for Kara and her cousin.

“Fifth dimension releases an element called Taquions. Some fragments of that element were detected the day of the explosion indicating a breach may be opened although the energy released from the explosion suggests the breach wasn’t stable enough for a successful passage. Ms. Luthor’s only chance of survival is her being trapped between both dimensions, theoretically.”

“S- she’s alive?” Kara almost choked on the words.

“It’s a possibility.”

“I- How I can save her?”

“It requires to recreate the abnormal event under more controlled conditions opening a breach for you to go in after Lena. There’s a chance you can be trapped there as well. The choice is yours.”

Kara’s mind was on overdrive, her heart seemed to would jump out of her chest. After months Lena could still be alive. She didn’t need to think twice this is what she wanted. A chance no matter how small and dangerous it was. Kara was all in.

“I understand. So… when do we start?”

In the following weeks Kara worked with Hope to build a device that would allow her to save Lena, it was a long shot and the risk was high involved but Kara had to try she couldn’t live with herself if she didn’t. Under Hope’s instructions, the paragon of hope worked with blink faith in saving the person she thought she had lost months ago. Kara had decided to keep Alex and the others in the dark what it made her feel bad for lying to them sometimes but she knew if her friends knew especially her sister they would go against the idea for sure. Kara wanted to avoid a confrontation with Alex and the DEO. With time they had to enlist Samantha Arias’ help she had access to necessary resources on L-Corp. To explain the situation, Kara had to come clean to Sam about Supergirl and wanting to keep things out of DEO’s radar. Sam, Lena’s only friend these days according to Lena herself, had immediately get on board with the plan. The single mother owned Lena and Supergirl a great deal after saving her from Reign a couple of years ago.

When the work was done Kara looked with wonder at the device, it was like a big sized box kara would have to place at the same field where the portal was the switch to open the dimension breach be activated by Hope. The brunette would contact Alex if anything went wrong. Kara was using the suit Lena made for her an added protection against the destructive force involved and the Kryptonite. Hope had alerted Supergirl to maintain her speed at a maximum when the breach opened, to locate Lena she would use the tracking device they had built to detect Lena’s suit. Kara had a very limited amount of time to get in, find Lena and get out before the breach closed. Forty-seven seconds to be precise.

It would be a closed call.

Like everything in her life was.

Nothing came easy for Kara Zor-El.

It was one of the hardest things Kara had even done in her life. She found her way where Lena was enveloped in light purple energy like a protective bubble. Supergirl managed to fly them out just in time for the breach to close behind them she used her body to protect Lena from the aftershock of the breach closing in. When she pulled back holding Lena in her arms up in the sky.

“Lena?”

The helmet of her suit retracted just as Lena’s and Kara saw her that her friend was unconscious and badly hurt judging by the bruises and blood.

Sam’s voice asked over the comms, “Kara, are you there? Did you find Lena?”

“I got her but she’s hurt. I’m taking her to the DEO.”

In an instant, she was crossing the skies towards the secret government facility. On the way Alex contacted her.

“Supergirl, I think we got a situation. We got a strange activity on the Daxam-”

“Alex! I’m almost there. I got Lena and she’s hurt. Meet me at the medical bay. Hurry!”

Alex could hear the desperate and worried tone of her sister. The DEO director put her medical training to use to treat Lena’s injuries as soon as Kara lay her unconscious body on the gurney. Alex made a mental note to give Kara a piece of her mind later.

Supergirl cupped Lena’s cheek gently while used her x-ray vision on her body.

“She got a nasty wound on her head and also her ribs are injured.”

It took some convincing for Kara to step aside and let the medical team do their job. They successfully stabilized Lena’s condition and sedated her to treat and prevent any possible brain damage.

Kara kept vigil beside Lena’s bed.

In the next seventy-two hours, every at CatCo thought their Pulitzer winning reporter had taken some time to take care of personal business. And Supergirl only jumped into action when it was extremely necessary she trusted J’onn, DEO, and Dreamer to keep the city safe.

She chooses to stay with Lena as much as possible the few times Alex had to use the ‘I’m your big sister, kara. You need to do what I’m telling you’ act to make Kara take care of herself and get some rest. Reluntecnly her younger sister would leave with the promise Lena wouldn’t be alone and to call her as soon something changed in her condition. A couple of hours of nap, a shower, a fresh change of clothes and enormous amounts of sweets and fried takeouts later Kara would make her way back to Lena’s side. Alex and the other subtly gave her some privacy whenever it was her shift.

It was a rarity to see the young Luthor so still like that like she was just sleeping Kara had only seen her like that once. When Lena had been wrongly accused of accidentally lead poisoning of children when Supergirl activated a device to irradiated the atmosphere with lead saving the Earth from Rhea and the Daxamite invasion. The accusation, later on, was proven to be a shady scheme by Lena’s declared enemy Morgan Edge, a state developer. Lena had drunk herself to sleep the night she stayed at Sam’s house hidden to avoid any other assassination attempts from the kid’s parents who believed she was guilty. Kara stayed with her until she slept on the couch wearing a grey university sweater.

Kara remembered how Lena lost faith in herself that day. How a drunken Lena asked her to stop trying to prove to the world they were wrong about the L-Corp CEO. It was so unlike Lena to give up without a fight, to show weakness and vulnerability.

_“So, please, just stop. Stop believing me, okay? I’m not worthy.”_

Her fragile and emotional state was something Lena allowed only Kara to see that night and some key moments of their friendship.

In the bed was a different image that defined Lena Luthor so much. There were none the expensive and design clothes, heels and the perfect makeup she wears daily. The confident posture she radiated when she walked to a room, the polite controlled manners, the penetrating eye contact with her green eyes, the deep and sometimes accented voice. A driven person who was always working and sometimes neglected her basic needs like food and sleep. Someone kind, affectionate and protective to the ones she loved.

The Lena wearing the hospital gown looked pale, weak and fragile. Yet there was something captivating in watching her sleep like that with her hair loosely falling on her shoulders.

Kara always held Lena’s hand softly and talked to her. At first how sorry she was about everything then sometimes Kara got frustrated and nagged Lena for being stupid and putting her life in danger like that and at last, the blonde said encouraging words conjuring all the faith of the world for her to wake up soon. As time went by and the raven woman’s condition continued Kara got more worried and dark thoughts of Lena not waking up emerged, Alex and Brainy assured her Lena would be fine to be patient.

So, Kara waited and waited.

When Lena opened her eyes blinking several times to adjust her eyes to the light. She looked at the surrounds and furrowed her perfect eyebrows noticing the hospital equipment around, she recognized the room as one of DEO infirmary room.

The second thing Lena saw when she looked down was scattered locks of blonde hair that she would recognize anywhere.  
Kara.

The blonde was on a chair next to her bed, the top portion of her body was on the side of her bed where Kara had dozed off at some point holding her hand. At the scene, Lena’s features softened she was glad Kara was okay her plan worked. Despite their past, Kara meant the world to her. The sight of Kara by her side spread warmth in her heart.

Lena tried to be angry, to hate her, to distance herself from Kara Danvers and the others. They had hurt her so much with lies and secrets. But when the time came and the lives of everyone she swore to never care about ever again was on the line she risked everything to save them. She still cared for them. She wasn’t the ice queen she thought she was. Nothing ever was so simple, wasn’t it?

Here was the superhero the world loved by her side.

Lena knew things weren’t forgiven and the future of their relationship was uncertain. There were so many things left unsaid things they needed to work it out. And to be honest, Lena was confused, she had mixed feelings about kara she didn’t if she wanted to try and fix things between them. She needed time to process what had happened what that tingling feeling she had at the prospect of seeing Kara die meant.

At the moment fresh out of unconsciousness she didn’t want to think about any of that instead she squeezed Kara’s hand with all the strength her weak body had. It worked because Kara woke up with a jolt and looked at Lena, green eyes meeting blue, a bright sunny smile spread across Kara’s face squinting her eyes the kind of smile that illuminated a room radiating joy, happiness, and relief. Lena returned the gesture just as much.

There were so many emotions reflected in their eyes. So many words they wanted to say to each other. It would be a time for that in the future, a time for deep meaningful conversations.

For now, they settled on a much simpler one.

“Lena, hey.”

“Hey.”


End file.
